Rediscovering Evil: The War in the Classroom - Paul Kengor

Paul Kengor

Paul Kengor is associate professor of political science at Grove City College. He is the author of God, Reagan, and the Soviet Empire, to be published later this year.

Can any good come from the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl? Or from September 11?

Yes. These events share one thing: they are evil. And they are allowing us to easily agree that there is evil in the world. That is no small achievement for our culture today. They are enabling us to calling evil “evil” again. And they permit us to attack moral relativism. Moral relativism maintains that truth is not absolute but relative to each individual. There is no single, absolute truth but many truths. Moral relativism also says there are no absolute rights and wrongs. But most who preach this belief do not believe it themselves.

Moral relativism may be the most destructive force in American culture and society. It is so pervasive that it is almost unnoticeable. It’s simply what we believe. When calling a morally relativistic statement into question one can expect befuddled, surprised looks.

Its strongest outpost is the academy. Liberal and often atheistic or agnostic faculty have replaced conventional belief in Christianity with a relativism that they remain faithful to (with a religious devotion).

A colleague of mine at Grove City College-where moral relativism is soundly repudiated-talks of his first day as a freshman in a course at an Ivy League school. The professor entered the room, looked up at the eager students, and declared:

The first thing I want to make clear to all of you is this: In this course, there are no absolutes.

My colleague, a bold, sharp kid from the south, raised his hand. He replied:

Professor, your statement is an absolute statement. To say there are no absolutes is itself an absolute.

The professor was stunned. She dropped her head, confusedly mumbled something, and proceeded with her introduction. An eighteen-year-old had eviscerated her assertion.

Students who learn nothing else, and may care to learn nothing else, seem to quickly pick up and embrace the relativism they learn in college, because it appears so tolerant, nonjudgmental, and attractive. They take it into the workforce, integrate it into what they do and say and watch and read, express it in their voting preferences, and pass it onto their children.

It is the college classroom, then, where moral relativism must be defeated. It is actually quite easy to corner a liberal professor. One can simply choose a hot-button position that liberals take and challenge the professor to declare them class. Once the professor takes a position, he has admitted, contrary to what he declared, he believes that absolutes exist.

The issues are plentiful. Is rape is wrong? Is forced female circumcision wrong? Was it wrong for the Taliban to deny women the right to an education, or to leave the home without a male guide? Is racism wrong? Is it okay to use derogatory epithets against blacks or homosexuals? Is it okay to beat a homosexual?

An especially cunning professor might put the student on the spot by replying: “Do you need me to tell you that racism toward blacks is wrong?” This is a slick maneuver intended to embarrass and silence the student. The student must then respond:

I know it’s wrong. But do you know it’s wrong? Will you not say that racism is wrong?

Those who admit these things are wrong, and they nearly always do, will reveal that they actually don’t believe what they say. They believe in absolutes, and they will impose them on everyone else-hate-crime legislation, legal access to abortion, affirmative action, and so much more. They use laws to codify their morality. We all seek to impose our morality on others. Some of us admit it; others don’t. We impose our morality on others every time we vote.

If there is any good to come from September 11, it is that a morally relativistic culture was made aware of evil. Absolute wrong still exists.